Homily For Maundy Thursday
You will notice that there are two Gospels in the Prayer Book for tonight from which the rector may choose. We have the continuation of the approach throughout Holy Week in which the Gospel writers each give their inspired perspective on the Passion, Christ’s suffering and death. This is the narrative of St. Luke 23 which runs from pages 152 to 155. There is also the Gospel account in St. John’s Gospel from the Upper Room Discourse that relates the Washing of Feet on the night before Our Lord was betrayed. Most parishes select the St. John passage because of its relation to the commonly used name for today - Maundy Thursday. Maundy comes from a derivation of the Latin word - Mandatum - a mandate, commandment. That the disciples follow the example of Jesus in radical service typified by his washing of their feet.
It became a tradition in the Church on this night for the bishop of a diocese to take the role of Jesus at the washing of the feet of 12 beggars as part of the service.
Although the mandatum, the Maundy, is directed toward humble service expressed in the act of foot washing, it reminds us also of another mandate of Jesus found in this very same Chapter - 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. This also fits with the intentionality of these events. It is before the broader celebration of the feast of the Passover by all of Israel and yet at the end of their smaller celebration of the Lord’s Supper that we have the washing. This event happened earlier in the week from the official Passover so that Jesus could still be crucified during the slaughter of the Passover lambs in accordance with the Jewish lunar calendar.
Indeed, it was after their supper, that Christ, animated by his love, knowing his hour had come, knowing that soon he would depart from this world and return to the Father, that He expressed His great love for his disciples, for he loved them completely. He loved them all, even the one who loved money more Jesus, he loved them all even those who would deny that they had ever known him. He loved them to the uttermost, the ones who ran out of their clothes rather than to be captured with Jesus. This expression of love “means that he left nothing undone that one who greatly loved should do.”
His love animated his service of self denial, putting aside his divine rights and being clothed in lowly servanthood. The Lord of all creation took off his robe of divinity and took upon him the garments of humanity so that in his perfect life and perfect death. He might bring cleansing for sin. That he might wash his people. That he might purge them from all unrighteousness. That he might be the perfect passover lamb for all who turn to Him as their sacrifice, their paschal lamb.
Notice the timing of this event. John makes it a point to bring to mind the Passover. Christ’s passion coincided with an awareness in all of Israel of the Passover lamb which protected all those who applied his blood to the doorposts. The Passover called to mind the deliverance of Israel out of bondage. Through the blood of the Lamb, all in the household were protected from the judgment of God which brought death otherwise. So, the Passover was a remembrance, in one sense it was a re-entry into the event itself. We have hints of Baptism in the foot-washing but the fuller institution is evident, the explicit command of Holy Communion.
The other Gospel appointed for tonight features the institution of the Holy Communion directly, while in the Epistle, St Paul condenses all the Gospel accounts into his instructions to the Corinthians. St. Paul speaks to the deficiencies in the Corithian celebration of the Eucharist - it is the exact opposite of the self-giving love of servanthood embodied by Jesus on Maundy Thursday. There are divisions in the Church instead of the unifying washing and feeding that Jesus typifies in our gospel. Instead, of the greater serving the lesser, the rich are getting drunk at the Holy Communion while the poor are going away hungry. St. Paul corrects them sternly for abusing the Church of God through their disunity and selfishness.
St. Paul then directs the Corinthians toward a proper celebration of God’s covenantal presence in the Holy Communion. That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
This language is so common to many of us. Many of you can probably repeat it from memory. But let us not inadvertently skip over one of the most important elements in what the Lord promises to His people through the Holy Communion. Notice that St. Paul uses the word "remembrance" twice in this passage. Remember the body broken for you as the bread is broken. Remember the Blood shed for your sins as you receive the blood of the grape. The difficulty is that remembrance is not nearly rich enough to describe what St Paul is telling us about our participation in the Holy Communion. It’s not simply to remember some fact, to call to mind the event.
The word in Greek is anamnesis is a fresh reentry into Christ’s once for all sacrifice. His self-giving love on Good Friday will never be replicated, but we will never exhaust our participation, when comingled with faith, in how that sacrifice feeds us in the present.
St. Paul also tells the Corinthians that eating that bread and drinking that cup that was instituted on that Maundy Thursday is a new testament in Christ’s blood. A new meal, a new sacrament, that communicated a new Exodus and a new nation under the rule of the true king and out of bondage to Satan the greater pharaoh. Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us - let us therefore keep the feast. His sacrifice is better, as he willingly offered himself as the true Passover lamb on Mount Calvary, unlike the Passover lambs who were unknowing and unwilling sacrifices offered under the Old Covenant. So, consider, this remembrance is an entry into Christ’s willing sacrifice for sin. He willingly gave His perfect life for you and for me.
Now, union with Christ requires the humility to be washed, to be cleansed by Him, which we must be in order to commune with Him. We must receive Him. He offered himself once for all. His sacrifice in comparison to the old covenant sacrifices is never to be repeated. But our participation in this mystery is to be ongoing. St. Paul tells us in our Epistle that we show forth the Lord’s death till he come. We are fed when we rightly receive the Eucharist with faith in Christ, the Eucharist for those who receive it with faith, gives them spiritual nourishment that brings about sanctification - it is an essential aid to our growth in Christ. This is an entering into the life of faith, and we should partake of it with the same willingness we have to obey all His commands. It is a spiritual reality that has physical consequences - to receive it flippantly, undiscerningly is to invite God’s judgment. Being barred from it for a time - excommunication - puts one outside the camp of God’s covenant. Outside of the protection that God promises to his people.
Many people neglect the Eucharist and in practice excommunicate themselves by removing themselves from this fellowship meal with other believers and with the Lord.
Brothers and Sisters, on this Maundy Thursday, let us reverently offer praise and thanksgiving for the gift of the Holy Communion - the manna for our journey to heaven, the food that strengthens and comforts us, the tangible proof of the love of Christ for His people. As we consider the great gift, let us be mindful of our need for God’s grace and the surest mercies of God. God’s gifts, particularly the Holy Communion, must not be received without a full appreciation of our standing before God. We are debtors, we are sinners. Sinners needing cleansing and Christ’s fellowship. Yet, praise be to God, that the Lord intended the Eucharist to be a gift for sinners. So, let us acknowledge, and own our sins and transgressions, confess them for the serious affront they are to our loving God, AND let us draw near with faith and receive the love of Christ for us.
His forgiveness is real, and it is complete. Beloved, let us remember this love, the love that washes, the love that leaves nothing undone for our salvation, the love that beckons us to come to His feast so we might have the foretaste of the heavenly kingdom which he purchased for us in his death and resurrection. Amen.
